This disclosure is directed to a newspaper vending rack coin mechanism, and more particularly a retrofit which is installed therein to enhance the operation of the newspaper vending rack. Newspaper vending racks are well identified in the Knickerbocker patents which bear the following U.S. Pat. Nos. 3,738,466 also 3,882,984 also 3,946,848 also 4,000,799 and 4,037,701.
These set forth newspaper vending rack mechanisms and in particular set forth systems which are able to vend at variable prices. They include features which first and foremost keep the newspaper dry and yet permit its sale through a door on the newspaper rack. In particular, they set forth a mechanism for doing the calculations to specify the deposit of the correct sum of money, and store that money so that the rack can be periodically serviced to add newspapers while also removing the prior accumulation of money.
Ordinarily, a rack will be loaded once, and perhaps twice a day. Some newspapers are able to service their racks in certain locales more than once, but that is the exception. The mode and manner in which the newspapers are actually sold is very frankly a mystery to the proprietor. It is difficult to know whether or not all the papers are sold within ten minutes or ten hours after the rack has been loaded. Moreover, it is difficult to know how rapidly the papers will be sold out whether or not sellout occurs. For instance, the vending rack may sell out quite quickly on weekdays, but may languish on the weekend. Information on the time and frequency of sales would be very useful. That information is not presently available.
This disclosure sets forth a retrofit structure which is adapted to be placed in preexistent newspaper racks and in particular a structure which can be installed in those previously manufactured and sold by the Assignee of the present disclosure, referring to Kaspar Wire Works, Inc. Thousands of racks are distributed around the country. This disclosure is a retrofit which can be installed with great facility in the preexistent newspaper racks so that the data is captured, and that other valuable data is also generated. For instance, this system takes advantage of an electronic circuit which is installed in the vending rack to first measure and count the coins which are inserted into the rack. The device includes a coin inspector which assures that the coins inserted into the newspaper vending machines are legitimate coins. Accordingly, the correct purchase price is counted and determined. After the correct sum of money has been placed in the rack, and the coins are inspected to avoid bogus coins or perhaps coins from another country having little value, the present apparatus releases the rack door through a mechanism which engages the door hook with an electrically controlled closure means. This permits the customer to merely open the door in the conventional fashion. However, while that happens, the present apparatus creates an entry which is the time of day which is stored in computer memory. A specified number of sales can be stored; for instance, the rack might be filled with any number of newspapers up to the maximum which fills the rack, and record each sale occurring at a particular time which is recorded in memory. This data can be stored for a first day, the rack be resupplied the next day, and the data captured for the prior day. The memory is sufficiently large that the time and date of numerous sales can be recorded up to some specified number of sales transactions so that the data for several days can be retrieved at once. The present disclosure further sets forth a means for interrogating memory. A conveniently applied infrared (IR) fitting is included to enable an IR wand to be applied for a remote memory reading device. It is typically hand carried by service personnel and is plugged in so that the IR data transfer occurs. This required a hand shake signal to be transmitted into the system which is recognized, typically a unique code triggering operation of the CPU within the circuit whereupon the data stored in memory is then transmitted out of the circuit. The data which is transferred out includes the time and date of the sales which were held in memory. If desired, the price of each sale can likewise be included, or the price can be known by virtue of the fact that all the newspapers sold through the rack have a specified price, and differ primarily on Sunday. In any case, this data is created daily and held in memory for transfer through the IR wand for transfer to a fixed data processing system for subsequent analysis, etc.
The present apparatus is portable in the sense that it can be placed inside the housing quite easily as a retrofit structure and fit nicely in the housing with such an installation accomplished in just a few seconds. Once installed, electrical power is required. This system utilizes a lever which has a surface deployed in the coin slot. When the lever moves during insertion of a coin, a switch is operated which applies electrical power to the CPU for operation. Power comes from batteries; the batteries have long life because the drain on the batteries is exceedingly small at all times except when actually vending a newspaper. Because it is subject to control of the switch just described, electrical power is consumed only during operation. More accurately, the current flow is so small that battery life is really not impacted and approaches shelf live, that is the life of storage of the batteries. Indeed the quiescent condition is a current drain that is measured in the range of perhaps 100 microamperes or less. Therefore, current drainage is significant only during vending transactions.
The present system also includes an externally exposed switch which a uniquely coded key operates; it is typically located for service in a convenient fashion so that switch operation can unlock the door when moved to one position, set a daily price at another position, set a Sunday paper price at another position, and provide other inputs for operation of the circuitry.
Many objects and advantages of the present apparatus will become more readily apparent on a review of the below written specification which sets out in detail the construction of the preferred embodiment. Moreover, this apparatus has certain advantages which can be only summarized and which will become more fully defined on a review of the specification. Primarily, the present apparatus is a retrofit structure which can be installed in newly made or preexistent newspaper vending racks and which therefore is constructed to fit in the same profile on installation. It incorporates a latch mechanism for easy and quick installation. More will be noted concerning this hereinafter as the retrofit apparatus is described in substantial detail.